Carlos Tevez, who last played for Manchester City in September, continues to dominate off-field matters for the English Premier League leaders but manager Roberto Mancini is more concerned with the club’s problems with referees.
Mancini has been highly critical of a number of high-profile decisions that have affected his side in recent games, and the topic came up again ahead of Tuesday’s visit to Everton.
Mancini’s latest gripe came at Anfield last week where Micah Richards conceded a penalty for handball, presenting Liverpool with a goal that helped them beat City in the League Cup semi-final.
Now the Italian has claimed that English referees are over-worked and pointed to the fact that Wednesday’s official, Phil Dowd, was controlling his fifth game in 22 days at Anfield.
“I think playing a lot of games is also difficult for them,” said Mancini.
“The refs sometimes are tired – to play every two or three days is difficult for the players, and for the referee. The referee is like me, like the players. They can be tired sometimes.”
Mancini is looking for an immediate response from his players after exiting the FA Cup and League Cup in quick succession and will be desperate to see his team maintain their three-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
The loss, 3-2 on aggregate following a 2-2 draw at Anfield, was particularly hard for Mancini to swallow as he aimed to take City to Wembley and the manager was sticking to his claim that officiating cost his team a chance of silverware.
“We scored two goals and that was enough to go to the final,” he said.
“We conceded two goals, one of them a penalty which was not a penalty – the referee made a mistake.”
Meanwhile, with European clubs such as PSG, AC and Inter Milan apparently out of contention for Tevez’s services because of City’s high transfer valuation, said to be STG25.2 million ($A37.49 million), the latest club to be linked to the controversial Argentine is Liverpool.
Reports claim that Liverpool made an unofficial inquiry over a possible swap deal which would have sent their under-performing forward Andy Carroll to City in exchange for Tevez – an “offer” in which City have let it be known they have no interest.
Nevertheless, up front remains a problem area for City, with Tevez’s personal “strike” now in its 11th week and Mario Balotelli serving the second of a four-match suspension at Goodison Park.